No mere upgrade of the standard Jeep Cherokee, the Grand Cherokee is a model in its own right, sitting above its smaller sibling and offering both more space and larger engines, serving as an all-American alternative to cars like the Land Rover Discovery and BMW X5.
We’re concentrating on the 2011-2020 models here. Jeep recently replaced the Grand Cherokee with a new, hybrid-powered model, but it’s the earlier cars you’re more likely to find on the used market. And it’s a good buy, with a spacious interior, plenty of equipment, and a tough engine and chassis that make it ideal for towing duties.
In addition to the Landie and BMW mentioned above, other high-end alternatives to the Grand Cherokee include the Volkswagen Touareg and Mercedes-Benz ML, or GLE as it’s become known more recently, plus good value tow-cars like the Kia Sorento, Ssangyong Rexton, and the Mitsubishi Shogun, which went off sale a few years before the Jeep.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee definitely makes a strong case for itself. Land Rover aside, no brand has a stronger reputation for making genuinely capable off-roaders than Jeep, and for all its modern trappings, from leather seats to infotainment screens, the Grand Cherokee is still a useful vehicle at heart. It’s tough, torquey, capable off road, and brawny enough to make light work of towing.
You may find more refinement from some premium-brand rivals, but Jeep always equips its cars well, and as a vehicle designed for the highways and byways of North America, the Grand Cherokee does long distance comfort too. You get big, comfortable seats, a commanding view of the road, plenty of interior space, and generally low noise levels at a cruise - it does a good job of isolating you from poor surfaces.
The 3-litre V6 turbodiesel engine does make a bit of a din under hard acceleration but it too settles down at a cruise, and the rest of the time it suits the Grand Cherokee perfectly. It’s got plenty of torque and is well matched to the eight-speed automatic gearbox that arrived in 2013 - and together, they have no trouble towing caravans, horse boxes and similar.
The Grand Cherokee rides and handles well too, at least after the 2013 facelift - earlier cars were somewhat cumbersome. But while it’s not sporty in the same way you’ll feel in a BMW X5, it handles neatly, doesn’t demand much driver effort, and rides well. Versions with air suspension are best of the bunch, and are also worth seeking out if you plan on towing.
The rival that gets closest to the Grand Cherokee’s mix of qualities is the Land Rover Discovery, which feels a little more upmarket and is also excellent both off road and for towing, though the Jeep may prove more dependable long-term. Budget alternatives include the Kia Sorento, Ssangyong Rexton, and the Mitsubishi Shogun, while the Toyota Land Cruiser is highly dependable option.
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Assuming you don’t have the deep pockets needed to run the rare Trackhawk (and to pay for the near-inevitable speeding fines), you’re pretty much looking at the 3-litre V6 turbodiesel. We’d recommend going for a post-2013 car, as this facelift improved the Grand Cherokee in every way, from ride and handling to gearbox, quality and equipment.
Talking of equipment, later models are naturally the best equipped, and there’s not much really to choose between the Overland and Summit, as even the ‘entry-level’ Overland has just about everything you’d want - leather seats and air suspension are both standard, for instance. If you plan on doing some off-roading, keep an eye out for Trailhawk models, as they feature extra underbody protection.
Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 V6 Turbo Diesel: This is the engine you’ll find in most Jeep Grand Cherokees sold from 2011-2020. It’s a 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel making 250PS in its most recent iteration, with standard four-wheel drive and an 8-speed automatic gearbox. 0-62mph is quoted at 8.2 seconds, with economy up to 29.7mpg combined.
Jeep Grand Cherokee 6.2 V8 Supercharged: Somewhat rarer in the UK, the Trackhawk used a monstrous 710PS, 6.2-litre supercharged V8. It could cover the 0-62mph sprint in 3.7 seconds, using a fair bit of fuel as it did so: combined economy was 16.9mpg.
Overland and Summit are the two trim levels to concentrate on here, as the Trackhawk is a rare beast in the UK. The good news is the two standard Grand Cherokee trim levels offered most recently are very well equipped, so you won’t need to hunt far and wide for a car with most desirable features.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland was pretty well equipped. 20-inch alloy wheels were standard fitment, as were leather seats (heated in the first and second rows), an 8.4-inch Uconnect infotainment screen, auto headlights and wipers, keyless go, a reversing camera, a dual panoramic sunroof, and air suspension.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit included all the Overland’s kit, plus active noise cancellation for a quieter cabin, adaptive headlights, a 19-speaker Harman Kardon audio system, a higher grade of leather trim, and adaptive cruise control.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk offered even more equipment - in addition to that massive V8 engine - including Brembo brakes, launch control, quad exhaust tips, an upgraded four-wheel drive system, different exterior body styling, and unique interior trim.
Jeep offered several other trim levels over the years in addition to the most recent listed above. There was a well-equipped Limited Plus at the lower end of the range, an off-road biased Trailhawk above the Summit, and a special edition Night Eagle, mainly a visual upgrade to the Limited Plus.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee’s dimensions are:
Length: 4828mm-4875mm
Width: 1943mm-1954mm (without mirrors)
Height: 1749mm-1802mm
Ground clearance: 205mm-210mm
The Jeep Grand Cherokee’s boot size is:
800 litres (to roof)
1689 litres with the rear seats folded (to roof)
Like all petrol and diesel cars registered since April 2017, the Jeep Grand Cherokee is subject to a flat rate of VED or ‘road tax’ - and with all also costing more than £40,000 brand new, they attract a surcharge on top of that, for a £570 yearly bill. That applies from the second year of registration to the sixth, which means that some models will soon drop back down to a more palatable £180 per year. Prior to April 2017, VED was CO2-based, so 2011-2017 examples will vary in tax cost depending on their emissions.
Most Jeep Grand Cherokee models have fairly high insurance group ratings. Among more recent models, an Overland with the sole 3-litre V6 diesel engine option is group 43, and this rises to an unsurprising group 50 for the Trackhawk. Some earlier models, like the limited, can be found a little lower in group 38.
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